Heads We're Dancing
by Patty-Boy
Summary: An updated version House, bored as usual during a Christmas fundraiser, comes up with a little game to help him pass the time.


"Hey, Cuddy!" He called, watching her spin around to face him in that tight, red dress of hers. A small, appreciative smile was brought to his lips. _Ah, the things she wears for the Christmas fund-raiser.._ He thought, _Probably the only reason why I'm here. Probably the reason why most of the rich donors are here._ The latter brought a slight grimace to his face. The idea of perverted, old men leering at Cuddy wasn't particularly attractive. Unless the perverted, old man in question was himself. Then yes._ Hell yes._

"Yes House-.." She must've noticed that he was currently ogling her chest, since she slapped him lightly on the shoulder to get his attention. He looked up, reluctantly dragging his eyes away from the 'twins'. "House!" She huffed, placing one hand on her hip. After sending some daggers at him with her eyes, she continued, tone sounding annoyed with him already. "What did you want?"

"I were actually wondering whether you'd like to play a little game with me." He said with another smile, this one innocent and bright.

Innocent and bright. Yes, two words which should never be used to describe Gregory House. This made her doubt how innocent his idea really was.

But he knew that the adventurous side of Cuddy, who was slowly wearing her resolve down with a second alcoholic beverage, would accept his offer...

"A game with you, House?" She snorted, raising an eyebrow disbelievingly, "You really think I'd agree?" She knew the man well enough to not accept any offers which could – and, since it was House, would – put her in an uncomfortable or embarrassing position.

...Or not. Sighing, he stomped his left foot like a petulant child. "Cuddy~..." He whined, "I promise - no groping, nothing sexual and no removing of clothes. That is, unless we end up at your house at the end of the night." The thought made him smile.

Watching House behave like a five year old who'd been denied candy brought an amused smile to her lips. For all the genius the man had in that head of his, he could still act like a kid when he didn't get what he wanted.

She supposed that she could try this.. Game of his. Give him a firm 'no' if things went too far, since things could never be allowed to go too far between them. "...Alright. What game is it?" She asked, taking a step back to rest against the bar, awaiting his reply.

Pulling out a quarter from the pocket of his pants, he put it down next to her on the bar. "This."

"This?" She echoed, glancing down at the coin suspiciously. "What's 'this', if you care to enlighten me?" She really had been expecting something more.. adventurous from House.

He smirked, picking the coin back up, beginning to twirl it between his fingers. "Heads or tails?" He asked after a moment, glancing from her to the quarter.

"Heads or tails?" She said, raising one shapely eyebrow, reaching out to poke House in the chest, eyes narrowed as she looked up at him. "I don't trust you. What are the exact rules of this game of yours?

He sighed heavily, as if she was asking a great favour from him, rolling his eyes. "Fine, I'll tell you. I suppose it would be pointless to tell you afterwards... Look - just pick heads or tails. If you win, you get to dare me to do something. If I win, I get the same. See? Simple. Innocent. You should let your hair down more often, Cuddy."

'Letting her hair down' around him wasn't an option. The moment she'd allow herself to trust him the slightest bit, he'd take advantage of it.

She thought about this. On one hand, she could tell him to do all his clinic duty hours for the rest of the week. On the other, however, he could end up putting her in that uncomfortable/embarrassing position, which is something she knew he'd try to do. Then again, she was still his boss. And that gave her the power to overrule whatever he told her to do, allowed her to break his rules while he couldn't – but did anyway – break hers.

"...Fine. Tails." She said reluctantly, crossing her arms.

"That wasn't hard, was it?" He muttered, flipping the coin into the air, watching it twirl around before it landed in his hand a second later. Quickly placing it on top of his other hand, he pulled the one that was covering the coin away. "Heads." He smiled triumphantly, putting the quarter back in his pocket.

She knew it was a stupid, little game that House had thought of in maybe a few seconds of boredom, but she still felt a small sting of defeat over losing to him. God damn the man...

...The man who was getting dangerously close, and she wasn't doing anything. Blinking, she quickly reached out to push him away, looking around frantically to see if anyone was watching. Half her employees thought she was sleeping with him already, they didn't need to add fuel to the fire of never-ending gossip and speculation that surrounded her and House.

Grabbing her wrist, halting her movement, House leaned down further, moving his lips sideways just before they touched hers, a giant, red warning sign flashing in his mind. The line, remember the bloody line. "Heads. We're dancing." He said with a smirk, regaining his composure as soon as he lost hold of it, leaning away just as quickly as he'd leaned in.

"Huh?" She muttered, her pupils ever so slightly dilated, in a daze from how close he'd been to kissing her, and how much she had found herself anticipating that kiss, something she was fearful of and curious about. Shaking her head slightly, as if to rid herself of these thoughts, she looked up at him. "Dancing? House, what about your-..."

"I took a couple Vicodin earlier, I'll be fine. Come on." He urged her, leaving his cane by the bar as he tugged her towards the space in the middle of the hall that had been cleared to make a dance floor. Dancing, he supposed, was better than crashing his lips against hers in a flurry of passion, longing and want...

...Yeah. He'd better just get to the dancing part before he forgot all about that 'bloody line' he was trying to respect.

Just her luck. As they joined the couples dancing – them obviously not a couple themselves - the song slowed and the dancing did too. She found herself with her hands on House's broad shoulders while his were resting on her hips, and wondered how the hell she was going to explain this to Wilson. Forget Wilson – what if one of the board members saw her? But then she felt his thumb brush against her where his hand was placed... And momentarily threw any thoughts of the board out of her head.

Over the course of the song, they somehow got much closer together, with his arms wrapped securely around her waist now, which signalled her mind to warn her once again – You can't do this, Lisa, you're the head of a hospital, for God's sake, this is House, your worst behaving employee, the man you should hate by now... Why don't you hate him?

However, she had no intention of answering that question. These thoughts could wait, she decided as she swayed from side to side with House, so close that her face was almost pressed against his chest.

"This is nice." He murmured, making her glance up, his voice hushed and soft, his eyes looking slightly more vulnerable after the words left his mouth in the tone that they did. Vulnerable after revealing something that could point to his emotions – the ones he guarded with a ten inch thick, brick wall – towards her. Not that you have any. He'd immediately tell himself, afraid to even think those thoughts that pushed him towards her. Because he ran back just as quickly. Which, he knew, confused and hurt her to no end, even if she didn't show it. He supposed she was slowly becoming as good as he was at this 'Let's see who can hide their feelings better' game.

"It is." She agreed, her voice also much softer that she thought it would sound. Knowing that they were getting in way over their heads, just by holding each other like they were doing. They should never let it go much further beyond their teasing, their banter. House's occasional remark that bordered on sexual harassment, she reminded herself, grimacing inwardly. And then, something sparked in her memory. "Heads We're Dancing." She said, repeating his earlier words.

"Hm?" He asked amusedly, not showing the smirk that threatened to spill, refusing to reveal the true reason why he came over to her until she figured it out. "I thought we already were."

"It's a Kate Bush song, House. And you know that." While she didn't listen to that sort of music any more, or any music for that matter, not finding the time to, she used to – back in college. She knew that he knew, because he bought her an album - 'The Sensual World' - as a birthday present, some time earlier. And, besides that, the man remembered... everything. And seemed to know everything, about her and her personal life, which was a rather creepy feature about him. Stalkerish, she would say, if she didn't know better. Didn't know House better. Didn't know that there was a certain invisible line between them, and neither dared to cross it in fear of something huge, something out of proportion blowing up in their faces. But, luckily, she did. And so did he, thank God. Otherwise, he would've kissed her by then – she was sure of it. Then again, she would've just as easily kissed him.

"So... You remembered? When?" She questioned after a moment, a small smile on her lips.

"A few minutes before I walked over to you." He admitted with a smile after a moment of thought, looking down at his hands on her hips, wondering why he'd been the one to suggest this, knowing that she was talking about a certain memory...


End file.
